Eliminating measles, rubella and tetanus

A health worker administers a dose of oral polio vaccine to a boy in the Bajeed Kandala camp, a refuge for displaced Yazidis, near the town of Peshkhabour, Iraq.

Measles, rubella, and maternal and neonatal tetanus can be prevented by vaccines and yet continue to afflict children around the world. UNICEF is committed to eliminating these fatal diseases.Measles and Rubella

Measles, a virus that attacks the respiratory tract, is one of the most contagious diseases known. Children are especially vulnerable for deadly infections – 330 children die from measles every day, despite the availability of a safe, effective and affordable vaccine. Measles survivors are often left with life-long disabilities, such as blindness, deafness or brain damage.

The success of measles vaccination has been dramatic. Since 2000, an estimated 15.6 million child deaths have been prevented through measles immunization. In 2013, approximately 84% of children around the world were immunized against measles.

Rubella is usually very mild in children, but rubella infection in women during early pregnancy can seriously affect the fetus, resulting in miscarriage and the combination of disabilities collectively called congenital rubella syndrome (CRS), which includes heart disease, blindness and deafness.

UNICEF, with international and governmental support, is helping to improve coverage for routine measles immunization, and conducting regular campaigns in the high-risk regions of Africa and Asia. Thanks to the work of UNICEF and its partners in GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, vaccines against rubella are available in 139 countries.

A swift, painful – and entirely preventable – killer, neonatal tetanus in still present in nearly 25 countries. In some places, not all pregnant women are vaccinated and in others, women must deliver and care for their newborns in unhygienic conditions, making them vulnerable to infection.

Tetanus is called the “silent killer” as many newborns and mothers affected by the disease die at home, and neither the birth nor the death are reported or registered.

Momentous progress has been made in eliminating maternal and neonatal tetanus. Simple, proven and high-impact interventions like vaccination have helped drastically reduce newborn tetanus deaths.

In 2000, the lives of an estimated 200,000 newborns were lost to tetanus annually. Today, thanks to immunization and improved medical care before, during and after birth, that number has been reduced to 58,000 each year. Since 1999, 35 of 59 high-priority countries – all of them classified as low and middle income –have successfully eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus.